June 16, 2012

Chromium vs Firefox in Ubuntu Review

I found this interesting. I switch between Chromium and Firefox, but prefer Firefox because if feels faster and is always stable. At times it seems a little biased, but good info. Written by Ayesha .A on June 12, 2012. Posted in Reviews, Software, from Linuxtoday.com, Source from http://www.unixmen.com

According to the independent web analytics firm, StatCounter
Chrome has excelled as the world most popular browser with the highest
browser usage share for the month of May 2012. But does that apply to
Linux platform too? Is Chrome the best browser for Linux? The post
compares the widely popular Mozilla Firefox browser version 4 with
relatively new Google’s Chrome version 16, distinctly for Ubuntu!

Mozilla Firefox comes by default on Linux based distributions such as
Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Fedora etc. Naturally Ubuntu users opt for open
source softwares. Technically, Opposed to Mozilla Firefox, Google’s
Chrome is closed source; that makes Ubuntu users favour Firefox than
Chrome, and that is understandable. Chromium, on the other hand is open
source basis of Chrome. But unfortunately it lacks some key features
like default PDF plug-in for viewing PDF files in the browser and Flash
support. Ubuntu users, primarily supporters of open community also tend
to have grudges towards Google, who is alleged to collect and aggregate
data of Internet users that is later used by marketing agencies and by
Google itself to increase the efficiency of its own
marketing/advertising activities. Of course, many detest the fact of
having their data sold for advertisement.
But apart from that, Firefox outshines Chrome on Ubuntu machine for
feature, stability and security. Now let’s investigate further, why
Firefox remains dominant in the Ubuntu/ Linux sphere.

Customisation

Customisation remains one of the central
features when comparing the two browsers. As obvious, open source
software users look for freedom, freedom in everything and specially in
customisation. Though Firefox has chromised itself delivering a minimal
interface thanks to it’s amazing potential of customisation that it can
be completely personalised. Chrome on the Other hand does not even
provide half of the tools for customisation. Chrome does not offer
layout customization options like Firefox. Firefox’s interface is also
subject to CSS styling, which allows the user to completely customize
each element’s appearance and placement! With firefox you can adjust the
interface and adapt to your personal requirements: re-arrange,
organize, add or remove buttons or fields to change your browsing
experience however you want. Many users also find the inability to
adjust the font size in tabs frustrating in Chrome. This can be a
notable factor when your contender gives limitless options for
customisation. Chrome also has poor rendering when it comes to Indic
fonts.

Speed, Startup time and stability

Firefox yet again outshines Chrome on
Ubuntu machine in startup time. Mozilla has significantly worked on
making the browser swift and snappy in its newer releases and it shows
evidently. Firefox however lags behind with a very less margin when it
comes to page loading time. Chrome is slightly fast than Firefox owing
to its minimal code base.
Firefox was alleged for intensive memory usage, but new releases make
memory usage efficient down to 50%. When released, Chrome was intended
to be a light weight browser but with the course of time it is becoming
notorious for memory hogging. This is because Chrome launches a new
process for every web page which makes it heavy on system resources.
stability is where, Firefox clearly unseats chrome. As much as Chrome is
stable on Windows platform, it is weak and unstable on Linux platform.
Very often does chrome become unstable and crashes. Though owing to its
intelligent tab management one or two tabs crash without affecting the
whole browser. But having several tabs down for unknown reasons can also
be a pain in neck. Plug-ins also happen to cash very often in
Chrome.Chrome mishandles SSL certificate causing annoyance very
frequently.

Compatibility

Firefox wins when it comes to
compatibility with Java, Flash, WebGL. Because Firefox renders Flash
better, YouTube is much more enjoyable on Firefox. However, Chrome
renders HTML 5 and JavaScript better than Firefox ( after all its being
funded by the Silicon Valley giant not by a handful of volunteers) Both
Firefox and Chrome are at par when it comes to compatibility with DOM
and CSS. In contrast to Chrome for Windows, chrome for Ubuntu
significantly falls short.

Features

Firefox wins here with a great margin.
When it comes to features Firefox is feature packed ! With features such
as Pin as App Tabs, One button Menu, no track, addons, Personas, App
Tabs to create mini bookmarks, group opened tabs etc.. Chrome has some
nice feature set but it is far far behind Firefox.

Security & Privacy

Chrome and Firefox both employ
anti-malware tools for secure browsing. both Firefox and Chrome give
security warnings when you visit a risky website and instigate your
antivirus to run and scan the file downloaded. besides this Firefox is
aided with plenty of add ons to further improve security, such as
NoScript. Firefox has the best pop-up blocker. Firefox also has one of
the most efficient anti-phishing feature. Last but no the leastt
Firefox has a safe mode to recover from unexpected shut downs. Chrome
too, restores your last session recovering from unexpected failures but
not very often on Ubuntu like on Windows.

Talking about privacy, Google Chrome has
obvious concerns of data tracking and selling. Firefox in contrast,
ensures that the data you leave while browsing using the Firefox is kept
private. It states on its home page: ” When you browse, you leave a
trail of data that potentially contains all sorts of personal
information. We believe this info belongs to you and you alone (and
least of all to overzealous advertisers), and have built in features to
ensure that’s the case.”

Synchronisation

For Ubuntu platform, Firefox still leads
when it comes to Synchronisation. Chrome is catching up but the system
is still buggy and doesn’t work at all at times.
For synchronisation with mobile devices, Firefox still takes the lead.
Firefox on desktop seamlessly Synchronises with your mobile Firefox,
bookmarks, tabs open on your desktop Firefox etc. chrome on the other
hand is only available on mobile devices running ICS- not to forget that
ICS is only available on handful of Android devices. This limits the
scope of Chrome on mobile devices. When synchronisation is possible, it
is far lagging as compared to that with Firefox.

Development

The addon system accompanying the Google
Chrome has some serious concerns with “actual” developers. Mozilla
integrates addon system directly with the browser ( this has some
disadvantages though). This gives more liberty for developers when
developing extensions .

Developers often complaint that the
extension system for Chrome is much more restrictive in the
capabilities in contrast to that of Firefox as chrome owing to
limitation of Chrome API exposed to extensions. For example While
development, you might come across a situation where you need to turn
JavaScript off for website testing, or empty browser cache. To do this
on chrome you have to go to setting of the browser. While on Firefox
you can simply do this with web developer extension, which is as simple
as turning on and of a button. By far, Chrome is way way behind Firefox
for development.

When
it comes to Ubuntu, Firefox certainly wins. Even when we evaluate both
the browsers irrespective of the OS we find Firefox has an edge over
Chrome as being aided with more features. What browser do you prefer on
your Ubuntu machine? Chrome or Firefox?